Page 28 of The Holiday Cottage

“Right. So now tell me what’s happened with Midas.”

If she told Janie the truth, then that would be their friendship over. Janie would discover she wasn’t a dog person. She’d be hurt that Imogen had lied. She’d never trust her again. The atmosphere in the office would change.

Imogen couldn’t bear that. For now she needed to keep up the charade.

“He’s gone. Midas has gone.”

“Gone where?”

“He ran away.”

“Ran away?” Janie looked at her in horror. “I thought you said your little garden was secure?”

“It is.” Maybe the running away excuse hadn’t been such a great idea. It made her look careless. And blaming the dog walker wasn’t a good idea because Janie would want to know which dog walker so that they could all leave bad reviews. But she just needed Midas out of her life and she couldn’t bring herself to kill him. “Honestly? I think maybe someone might have climbed over the fence and taken him, but I don’t have security cameras or anything so I don’t suppose I’ll ever really know. But he’s gone.”

There. It was done. Goodbye, Midas.

It was almost a relief. No more lying about the dog.

And no, she wouldn’t be getting another one.

She hoped that was the end of it, but one glance at Janie’s face told her that was wishful thinking.

“Gone?” Janie’s face turned puce with outrage. “You think someone stole him? I’ve read about a few cases lately. So shocking. These people who think they can take something that doesn’t belong to them! And it’s not like they’re taking a piece of garden furniture or a TV. I mean, pets are family. They’re taking a family member. It’s kidnapping. Oh, Imogen—” she flung her arms around Imogen “—I can’t imagine what you’re going through. What did the police say?”

“The police?”

“You have reported it to the police?” Janie let go of Imogen, her mind in overdrive. “Do you have one of those pet tracking tags? Can you track him on your phone?”

Imogen stared at her. Track your dog? That was a thing? “Er, no. I never saw the need. He always stayed so close to me when we were out. He never ran away.”

“So you can’t track him. Oh, poor you. And poor Midas. If he wouldn’t naturally run away someonemusthave taken him. What must he be going through?” Janie was silent for a moment. “There must be something we can do.”

“There’s nothing,” Imogen said. “I just have to learn to live with it. I only told you because I won’t be bringing him to Rosalind’s ‘bring your dog to work day.’”

“Of course you won’t.” Janie squeezed her hand. “We should tell Rosalind and she’ll cancel it. It would be too upsetting for you to be there and see everyone else’s dogs.”

“No, really, I don’t want it canceled. I need to get on with life.”

“You’re so brave. In your position I’d be a sobbing mess.”

“I’m trying not to be. I’m keeping busy. That’s the best way. I don’t want time to think.” That part at least was true. Her phone buzzed and she reached for it gratefully. “Sorry, Janie, I need to take this. Poor Sophie is having a bit of a nightmare with the event this evening. Keynote speaker is AWOL and client is difficult. I need to head over there.”

“Is this The Work Nook? They’re horrible. My friend used to do their PR. And I know you want to support Sophie, but I don’t know how you can think about work at a time like this.”

“Work takes my mind off things. Life sends you challenges, doesn’t it? All we can do is weather them.”

And stop making up pets and family members. That was another thing she could do. It turned out that unpicking lies was a lot more complicated than telling them in the first place.

It was relief that Midas was gone now. That part of her fictitious life was behind her. She felt lighter for it, although weirdly sad that she’d lost her dog.

She stood up and swayed slightly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Janie was on her feet in a moment. “Because you don’t look okay. You look white. And exhausted. It must be the shock. Sit down. I’m going to make you a drink.”

“I’m fine, honestly. I really need to get going.”

But she did feel a bit strange. The back of her throat hurt, but she assumed that was too much talking.

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